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Thursday, October 6

As promised...it's time to get back to the fun, fluffy design stuff. Real life is still complicated and hard but one way to get over it is for me to make our living spaces pretty. And then to completely redo those same spaces a couple of years later. Ha! So about a year or so ago, I went shopping to finish decorating the office for Mr. Difficult (OH...which, because of my extended hiatus, I still haven't shown you...more to come on that!) at our local Restoration Hardware outlet store and found this - our dream table on super sale for less than $1,000!

I literally hopped on it and bought it without hesitation. Big mistake. First, I found out it was way too big for our room. Later we realized the reason for it's ridiculous markdown (normally more than $5,000) was that the beautiful reclaimed hardwood was warped, which makes for a fun nightly dinner game of "who can avoid spilling their drink on the curvy table" each night. But did I mention it was like 1,000% off? Oh and that I am the world's most impatient person? But you know that by now.

Anywhoooo...it seated more people than our old, very banged up black Pottery Barn table that we bought for our first apartment and it is gorgeous, so we overlooked it's flaws. When it was delivered, I realized a total dining room makeover was necessary. Yay! And recently, I decided to finish the room. Here it is....ta daaaaa!!!

I love love love the way it came out! It's cozy yet still kind of formal. It's useable without being worn down looking. So let's break it down...You already know about the table. The chairs are all from Homegoods and were a steal! I was really iffy about chairs in this room. I wanted fabric but I have a 9 year old son who is MES-SY. So finding these chairs on sale means that if he messes them up (which he will) I won't be heartbroken. Ok...I will a little bit.

The bookshelves are Restoration Hardware and are called the Parisian Cornice Single Shelving. And get this...if you join their membership program (like $100 for the year) you save a TON of money on everything on their site. These were normally $850 but as a member they were reduced to $637 each. You can do the math...totally worth joining. Here's a pic from their website. You can see that it's not really a typical choice for china but because the table is so darn big, I couldn't fit a huge cabinet. So I thought there were perfect.

As for styling them, that was easy. I finally broke out all of my china and crystal that we got...ahem...17 years ago when we got married. And while I'm living on the edge when soccer balls tend to fly around my house, it's worth taking the chance to have them on display.

The curtains were the biggest challenge for me in this room. I have purchased, no exaggeration, 8 different sets of curtains and then returned them all. The dark ones made the room feel small and the light ones made it feel like a hospital room. Some were expensive and some cheap. Just couldn't get it right. And just when I was about to give up, I found these panels at my favorite place on Earth....Target. Alas, because nothing is ever easy, they didn't come in the length I needed. So I ordered 5 panels instead of 4 and cut the extra panel into 4 and sewed them on the bottom of the others. And by sew I mean I used that webbing adhesive stuff and ironed them together cuz nobody got time to really sew. Here's a close up. Can you tell????

After all the pieces came together, I added the orchids and candles that I had elsewhere in the house and purchased a great platter (is that the right word?) on super sale from Pottery Barn.

And here is the evolution of this room. I still really love the most recent look - the teal blue with the black table but as I said before, the table wasn't big enough and had been rehabbed so many times it was starting to fall apart. The blue geometric chairs were cute but totally impractical because you couldn't sit on them and squeeze under the end of the table.

After we moved back into the house (2014)

Before construction (2012)

During Construction (2013)

When we first moved in. (2005)

How it looked when we bought it (previous owners)

So there ya go! ANOTHER version of this room. Former versions are all pasted below. Let's hope it's the last, but I think we can all agree it won't be.

Tuesday, August 19

I am taking break from our AH-MAZ-ING trip to Bermuda - more on that later! - to share with you some awesome ideas for living room makeovers on a budget. Our living room was the first room I decorated when we moved back into our house last December (see post on our living room here). It was so much fun to put together and I did NOT spend a lot of money. Yes there are some really expensive pieces in the space that I inherited from family (piano, artwork, etc.) but I was able to finish the room with gorgeous Kravet fabric drapes that I got on a discount fabric site and my mom sewed, a loveseat I got from Wayfair, a bench we picked up at HomeGoods, a table and rug from Overstock and some accessories from West Elm. The end result is a high-end looking space that didn't break the bank. And guess what? I am apparently not alone!

Have you heard of Hometalk? It is the largest home and garden social network on the web and millions of people use it to share their projects or to ask questions of each other. For those of you like me that want to see what others are creating, it is a dream come true. So when Hometalk asked me to curate a clip board on living room makeovers, I was thrilled to do it! Check out these 19 beautiful spaces I found and click on the picture to learn more about each project.

Love them? I do! So many different styles and creative ideas. From the uber modern and fun faux deer antlers, to the gorgeous dark grey room, to the garage that is now a cozy and beautiful space complete with fireplace. I selected these spaces because they combined classic elegance with a sense of humor. Almost every room I picked had some traditional pieces with pops of color or fun decorative elements like the Union Jack throw pillow or the eclectic wall of artwork. And there are just a few…click on the picture to see all 19.

People always ask me how I come up with design ideas and I always tell them that I am inspired by others whether "real" designers or those of us just doing it on the "side". I am constantly finding inspiration from the creativity of fellow decorators. So check out these beauties and then become addicted to Hometalk like I am. And now I must get back to paradise. And just in case you think I may be exaggerating…here's where we are right now. #HeavenOnEarth

Thursday, July 31

I bribed my kids to go with me to Homegoods today after camp pickup and saw a great chest of drawers that I thought would look great on the landing at the top of the stairs. So presto changeo...a little landing makeover for you on a Thursday evening. Whatcha think? I kind of love it! It's the perfect mix of the wood that is in the hallway with the mirrors to keep it a little fancier (a word I don't really love) but you get the drift. I just threw a few things I found upstairs on it to decorate it for now but I am sure I'll change those at some point too.

It's sort of hard to tell because the mirrors are reflecting the dark wood floors, but the wood on the drawers is a really nice distressed look with the mirror background and these cute "crystal" like knobs.

Here's how the landing looked after I first painted the stripes on it. For more information on how I did that you can read my previous blog post on the subject here. Below are a few shots of how it looked during the construction process.

I am thinking I might get a nice runner for the long part of the hall which you can see below. Not sure yet though - I really love the hardwoods and probably won't cover them up but ya never know!

So there's a quick little makeover! Cheap, quick and makes a big impact.